has been making music with Phil Lesh for nearly 50 years. And what do the pair have to show after almost a half-century of collaboration?
“Phil and I can hear each other thinking,” Weir said recently from his San Francisco Bay area home. “That’s what you get from working with somebody for a few decades.”
That kind of mutual understanding — an anticipation of creativity, you might say — is what has made Weir and Lesh’s musical history so fruitful and legendary. From their time in the Grateful Dead to their current passion in the group , Weir and Lesh are towering figures of not just the jam-band scene but all of rock ‘n’ roll.
And the pair is hardly slowing. Their latest project is Furthur, which plays tonight through Sunday at the . (Saturday’s show is sold out.) Many critics and fans have said Furthur is the tightest and brightest Dead incarnation in the nearly 15-plus years since frontman Jerry Garcia died.
Weir isn’t shying away from saying the same thing.
“Out of pure dumb luck or persistence, we’ve got the right combination of guys,” Weir said. “The band is really light on its feet, and we can turn a corner very quickly. We’re learning to read each other now where I’m not worried about guys being up to speed on the arrangements, and I’m giddy with the anticipation of where we can take those arrangements.”
“The right combination” involves Jeff Chimenti, who has a history in RatDog, the Dead and the Other Ones; Joe Russo of the Benevento Russo Duo; and recent addition John Kadlecik, who has perhaps made the biggest impact on the group.
Kadlecik was famously invited to join Furthur in 2009 after more than a decade of fronting , the respected Grateful Dead tribute band.
Kadlecik knows how to channel Garcia, and he’s a natural fit for Furthur. Post scribe Jason Blevins said this of Furthur’s second Red Rocks show (of three) in September: “Kadlecik filled his inspirational muse’s shoes with aplomb, channeling Garcia in both tone and style.” (See reviews and photos of all three concerts at , and .)
But that’s only part of the singer-guitarist’s appeal, Weir said.
“John is John, not Jerry,” Weir said. “When we auditioned him, we were looking for him to speak his own voice. Bit by bit, he’s stepping into the role of himself.
“It takes time to transition, but we’re not looking in him for somebody to emulate Jerry.”
How did Kadlecik immerse himself so quickly into the Furthur fold?
“John’s an amazing player,” Weir said. “He listens as hard as he plays, and that’s really important in the kind of music that we play. He’s extremely versatile, and he’s got a lot of spark.”
Weir hopes to write some songs with Kadlecik in the near future. But for now, they’re carrying the torch that was lit in the ’60s — one that still burns brightly.
“When we’re playing, I can still hear Jerry, but I’m not hearing it from John,” Weir said. “I’m hearing and feeling Jerry from somewhere else. I may be lapsing into abnormal psychology here, but I don’t think so. If somebody lives in your head and your heart for a few decades, they don’t go away.
“In Jerry’s case, he’s not gone, so we don’t need to replace him.”
